"Welcome to the finest Carnaval in Peru! Only in Urubamba."

        Generally when I sit down to write a blog entry I’m usually somewhere between my second or third cup of coffee before anything worth writing emerges from the twisted and cryptic jungle of my mind. This entry, however, came a bit easier. The sheer volume of events in the past few days made choosing enough for this post a breeze.

        If I ever desire to be a writer I’d better stay on the move as much as possible. It seems I find writing easiest when my brain is in a continual state of “sensory overload” and “sensory overload” is certainly what I’ve been experiencing the past few days.


        I have arrived in Urubamba! I made my rendezvous with Aisha (the volunteer coordinator) only a mere 54 hours ago, but the happenings of the past few days could easily make you think otherwise. Even the most mundane of events can appear quite extraordinary when you’re adjusting to a new home. What does that make normally extraordinary events?

        The small city of Urubamba takes its name from the river valley it is set in. It is large enough to keep you entertained, but small enough that everyone is still in everyone’s business: the trademark of any truly small town. I have been told that dancing is an integral part of the social contract and that if you miss an evening out on the town then you better have a good alibi: expect many questions about your whereabouts the following day.

I didn't even bother to mention the mountains surrounding the city.

        But this is not the first time I have been in this city. I was here two years ago with a fantastic group of students and a few equally charming sponsors. However, my experiences in Urubamba were limited to the house in which I stayed, the Rainbow Centre, and the roads in between. Now all of Urubamba lays open before me and I have the pleasure of being able to explore its most intimate regions unhindered.


        The staff-house that I am staying in is far from luxurious, but it is home. It does contain what I am beginning to call my “Holy Trinity”: hot water, a sharp knife, and a clean bed. The vast majority of places I have stayed during my travels the past month have been missing at least one of the three. The volunteers and staff members that I have met so far have all been exceptionally amiable persons. Considering that nearly all of them have been female they may just be pleased to have such a stunningly gorgeous man, such as myself, around.


You never know.


        Speaking of lucky people, I was fortunate enough to time my arrival here in Urubamba with the annual event of “Carnaval”. For those of you that were unaware, as I was a short few days ago, Carnaval is something of a big deal for this small town. In what amounts to nothing less than a full day fiesta the entirety of the population of Urubamba and the surrounding cities descend from the mountains for a full day of music, dancing, drinking, and water-fights. Dressed in their finest traditional Peruvian clothing the sea of colorfully adorned crowd includes persons of all social rank from simple peasants all the way up to mayors and governors. And everyone was ready to have a good time.

A colorful sea of ponchos, chullos, and... plants.

        Did I mention the water-fights? From sun-up to late into the night on Carnaval if you are out of your house and anywhere near the festival you must be prepared for the eventuality of catching a “refreshing” bucket of water or a quick blast of foam. The locals seem to take extra joy in targeting the small population of gringos such as myself and handfuls of colored talcum powder are not off-limits either. Carnaval is considered something of a “single persons day” where the young and brave show their affection in the most natural of ways: by coating their crushes in water, foam, and multicolored madness. Isn’t that how we all met our better halves?

I begrudgingly did my best to fit in. 

        The festivities start early in the morning and with the assistance of many beers the event culminates with the mid-afternoon event of “The Axing of the Trees”. Several trees "volunteered" in advance for this great honor and were dressed appropriately for the event. Ornamented with sacrificial robes of ribbons and “gifts” ranging from laundry baskets to colanders the trees patiently awaited their fate.

So brave. How kind of the tree to offer itself up in sacrifice.

        When the time was right everyone gathered in a large circle around the trees and the event went as follows:


        Inside the large circle of onlookers an inner ring of dancers held hands and began to dance around the chosen tree in time with the local brass band. Included in this inter-circle of dancers were all the who’s who of the region: the mayors of Urubamba, Chinchero, and Ollantaytambo. The mayors and other important persons would then take turns stepping into the circle of dancers. They would be presented with an axe and once they had taken several swings at the ceremonial tree they would pass the axe on to the next dignitary.

Don't mess with the major of Chinchero. 

        The event continued in this fashion for as long as it took to fell the tree: the onlookers cheerfully admiring their mayors as the brass band patiently played their festive tunes. The person who took the last swing at the tree before it fell received the high honor of purchasing the many “gifts” for another tree in next year’s Carnaval.

        As soon as the tree hit the ground the enthusiastic crowd of on-lookers, suddenly possessed by an acute case of animality, burst forward as if water from a broken dam and stripped the tree of its loot.  The ensuing chaos as persons in the crowd joyfully jumped over one another in a mad attempt to claim their share of the prize was shocking, but it passed within seconds as everyone either skipped away carrying their war trophies or nonchalantly walked away empty-handed. It was all in good fun.

This was repeated three times with equal vigor.


        After the “Axing of the Trees” the festival turned into an outdoor concert which continued well into the night. If you want to see the true importance of dancing in Peruvian culture just watch a crowd of drunken concert goers. With each subsequent hour the crowd appears to dissolve into one large pool of wobbly-legged dancers all doing their own form of drunken tango or folk dancing. The Peruvians don’t become “falling down drunk” they become “dancing down drunk”. The more they drink the more they do this special jig where it appears their legs are shrinking and they resolutely fight to keep standing.


        I am taking pleasure from diving headfirst into the culture of my new home in Urubamba and I have no worries about myself enjoying the next month here.

¡Hasta Pronto!

P.S. This was meant to be posted several days ago, but the internet here in Urubamba is patchy at the best of times.

P.P.S. I am disappointed by the lack of challengers to my three-month-beard-off. I have no choice to to crown myself "Champion Short-Term Beard Grower". Hurrah!

Machu Picchu: An update full of clichés.

Can you believe I took this with a three second delay-timer?

        There are more clichéd descriptions that I could use to describe Machu Picchu than there are landmines on the 38th parallel. If you'll allow me, I'm going to go ahead and throw out a few of the more tempting ones right now so that I don't to use them later in my post.

        It was a fantastic, beautiful, unique, one-of-a-kind, breathtaking, awe-inspiring, and marvelous place. There. Much better. Now I can get down to the business of writing this post sans overused adjectives.

        I arose at the hour of 5:00 AM to begin my day at Macchu Picchu. A time so criminally early that even the birds refused to rise with me and sing their usual morning songs. By 5:40 I had boarded the somewhat overpriced bus to the ruins on the mountains above the small town of Aguas Calientes and by 6:10 I was standing among the other zombie-like adventurers as they all gently elbowed each other in an attempt to snap a postcard worthy photograph of the ruins before more people arrived.

Not shown: the three little-old-ladies that I shoved out of the way.

        All joking aside, I can only assume that the Incas thoroughly enjoyed a challenge. Perched precariously on this mountain ridge overlooking the Rio Urubamba below I find it hard to believe that someone, at some point in time, stood here and said: "Ah, yes. This is the perfect place to build a city". Many speculate that this location was a very holy place to the Incas. Why else would they both building a city here?

"Perfect! Just the challenge we were looking for today."

        I can see the merits of the "holy city" argument. I'm certain that the Incas needed either divine assistance or a lot of cojones and a dash of insanity to construct this city in the clouds. But in reality, nobody knows exactly how, when, or for what purpose the Incas built this settlement. The mystery of this original cause only further fans the flames of intrigue surrounding these astounding ruins. I was content to leave the great debate of "why" to those who are more qualified to answer.

I preferred to do what I do best: explore.

        And explore I did. For a solid six hours I climbed up, down, and back up again. My fears that rain would put a damper on my day at Machu Picchu (it is the rainy season!) turned out to be unfounded as I hiked under the sun's gentle approval.

        However, my fears of swarms of other people arriving to fill the ruins proved to be all too true as bus after bus of visitors arrived. Luckily by noon, the peak hour to visit Machu Picchu, was already spent. The sun also decided that it had had enough for the day and it scurried off to kindly warm another part of the earth. As the sun left its place above the ruins the ever-looming rain clouds quickly scurried in to fill its position as they released there burdensome load of rain on all those below.

To the left, sun. To the right, rain.

        In the past, at this very place, the Incas might have jumped up and praised the clouds for their kind offering, but today the rain only brought out a sea of ponchos, umbrellas, and a murmur of curses from the ingrates below.

        I took the afternoon rains as a sign and descended from the ruins. I returned to my hotel to begin the process of sorting through the superfluous amount of photos I had taken.

And that was my day at Machu Picchu.

And here is a picture of me petting a llama.

        On the more personal side of things I am pleased to say that my Spanish has improved greatly during the past four weeks. Someone once told me that ones proficiency in a language can be measured by their ability to tell a joke. Over the the past few days I've found myself drinking and playing "Jenga" with Argentinians; exploring markets with Peruvians; and poking fun at Chileans. Day by day I find I am able to more comfortably expressing myself in Spanish. There are times where I struggle to explain something, but those times are becoming less and less.

        Any sense of homesickness I may have harbored at the beginning of my travels has all but left now to be replaced with a sense of normality. You could say I've acclimated to the traveling lifestyle. I've developed a familiarity with my surroundings here in Cusco. If I need vegetables I go to the San Pedro market. Bread can be found at the corner-store down the road, but it is not nearly as good as the bakery on Calle Triunfo. And buses to Urubamba leave from Puente Grau. If I need something I have developed an awareness of where to find it and that makes life just a bit easier.

        I'm enjoying my travels immensely and I anxiously await the next part of my journey: volunteering in Urubamba!

This is too good a picture not to sneak it in somewhere in this update.

        P.S. Since it is still Valentine's Day here in Peru I'd like to say a special thank you to all of those back home and abroad that are supporting me. Even by simply reading this blog you are supporting me and my efforts because I take pleasure in knowing that there are people out there behind me. Thank you all!

       P.P.S. I'd like to make a extra special shout-out to my family, my close friends, and my Valentine Anna. I miss you all and hope everyone had a very merry day today.

WARNING: Content not suitable for children or the faint of heart!

Alternatively: "The things you'll find when you're not looking for anything in particular."

Ha! I bet you weren't expecting that.

        As I sat down to write this post I pondered: "Could I do an entire entry completely about a single nude photo of myself at 3650 meters above sea-level?". The answer, luckily for you all, is no. Unfortunately for me, that meant I actually had to think of something interesting to write about. Butt But, now that you've seen me standing in my birthday suit on top of a mountain you're kind of roping into reading the rest of this post to get the full context.

        The last few days I've split my time fairly evenly between city and country, but even in the city I am constantly surrounded by the imposing mountains of Cusco. Their peaks seem to watch over the city was a perfect vigilance. Ocassion menacingly as they send a thick haze of clouds fearfully skirting around their summits. At other times they peacefully observe the goingabouts of the humans in their domain, casting friendly shadows on their subjects below. It's easy to see why a culture might revere, and fear, these mountains as gods. 

The Quechua term for a mountain god is "Apu".

        The mountains have a way of hiding beauty just out of plain site. If you explore any mountain in this area long enough you're bound to stumble across the remains of an ancient civilization or perhaps the current inhabitations of their decedents.

        The things that have brought me the most joy during my travels so far have been the unexpected events. The events that come out of the blue and require a several page back-story to explain how you managed to get yourself into that position. One of the most entertaining of these unexpected and unplanned encounters of the past few days was exploring the Inca ruins of Tipón.

        Before I began the tiring four kilometer hike up the steep dirt road which lead to the ruins of Tipón I needed something to fill my stomach. Something typical of the area and something hearty. Something I could eat to bring out my inner savage for the climb ahead.

Guinea Pig.

Does this really need a caption?

I was led to this backyard Cuyeria by a local who swore up and down that this... restaurant?... served the finest dish of furry little friends this side of the Andes.

        I'm not exactly sure how to judge the quality of one guinea pig against another, but overall I found this Peruvian delicacy to be okay. As you might imagine there isn't much meat on your average cuy. I'm happy to have tried this local dish, but I think I'll pass next time. However, it doesn't get much more authentic than this: following a recommendation of a local taxi-cab driver and being served guinea pig on what appeared to be someone's back lawn in the rural village of Tipón.

        With my stomach (kind of) full I had the energy to successfully complete the climb up to the Inca ruins.

The site is still in great condition.

        These Inca ruins show another facet of Inca engineering: their domination of the uncompassionate and treacherous topography that is typical of the Andean highlands. This set of ruins featured an impressive network of agricultural terracing and Inca fountains.

A set of Inca fountains.

        It appeared that the somewhat laborious hike to the ruins must have deterred the usual sea of camera wielding voyagers as I had the site almost completely to myself. I took my sweet time marveling at the ingenuity of the Incas who's fountains still channel water gracefully today.

        Feeling the familiar tingle of adventure and having nowhere in particular to be I found an old aqueduct heading upwards from the ruins and decided to follow it to its source.

Clearly the road less traveled.

        In the end the source of the dried up aqueduct was not the crystalline lake that I imagined or hoped for, but I felt a great sense of joy at having reached the top roughly 3650 meters above sea-level. Something about simply exploring an old set of Inca ruins and following my impulses gave me a fantastic feeling of achievement. I was the only person for miles in any direction and only the sound of the wind gently rustling the hearty mountain shrubs and the occasional birdsong broke the silence of the mountains.

Damn, one meter short.

        The place high in the Andean mountains, all but forgotten, was far more fascinating than listening to any listless tour guide ramble on about the importance of some particular museum. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy my fair share of museums, but this experience was something completely out of the ordinary. I was looking for nothing in particular and I found something unexpectedly unique.

        It was so beautiful I did what any rational human being would have done in that situation. I stripped naked and took a few photos.

        If there's any lesson to take away from this post it's that the true joy I find in traveling comes from personal exploration. And that there's nothing quite as nice as a cool mountain breeze blowing over your.. um... never mind.

        Now that, my friends, is my kind of adventure.

Introducing Cusco: From the seaside metropolis of Lima to the greener pastures of the high Andes.

        I have arrived in Cusco! What was once the capital of the vast Pre-Colombian Inca empire that stretched from present-day Chile to Ecuador now retains only vestiges of its former glory, but those vestiges are absolutely fascinating.

        So this is the city I find myself in. Perched at the lofty height of 3,300 meters above sea-level this city in the clouds buzzes with life and an intangible pride. The remains of a truly great empire can be found on backstreets and alleyways: a sort of living memory of the past.

And this is where I am. In the ancient city of Cusco hidden away in the mountains.

        I arrived here on Thursday, the second of February. I arrived unsure of where to stay in the city. Following a recommendation from my friendly Lima hotel owner I went straight to the "San Blas barrio" an area of the city stuck rather precariously to the mountains above Cusco.

Cosy, but I'm not going to hang around if there is an earthquake.

        Now I'm not really one to boast (well, maybe just a bit), but I am certain that the hotel I'm staying in has the best view in Cusco. The "Home Sweet Home Mirador" is a lung-collapsing ten minute walk uphill from the center of Cusco. If you survive the many steps and cobblestone streets and you manage to find this small family place you will be rewarded with a panoramic view over Cusco.

Any grievances against the hotel are canceled out by the view.

        It's a bare-bones place, but for 25 soles (7 euros) a night with breakfast and this million dollar view it's quite a bargain.

        At the end of each day I have a hard time deciding if I have been exceptionally busy or exceptionally lazy. It's tempting to measure the day by "things I did" instead of "moments I experienced". It's quite easy to ruin the magic of simply spending a day exploring a completely new city by thinking of all the things you could have done.

        Yesterday was a day of particular cultural beauty. As I mentioned before Cusco was once the capital of the Inca Empire. As with any empire where there is a capital there are the corresponding palaces and temples. In Cusco only the foundations and walls of the once great political center remain and they can be found at the archaeological site of "Sacsayhuaman".

        Pronounced, to my childish humor's delight, as "Sexy-Woman" it is truly a unique site. While the Incas did not use coin nor did they have a written language they were remarkable engineers. They designed stone walls and palaces which resisted earthquakes with the effectiveness of modern technology. The fact that they left no written record only adds to the mystery of their civilization.

The interlocking rocks at each corner served to stabilize the wall during earthquakes.

The site of an old temple. In the background you can see the trademark trapezoidal niches also, as you guessed, to resist earthquakes.

        I wandered these breathtaking ruins with the help of my friendly guide "Carlos". Carlos embodies the unspoken pride of the indigenous people of Peru. He makes jokes about the conquering Spaniards pointing at the walls saying: "Here. These are the walls that the Incas built, but over there, that's from the Spaniards. This wall is an Inca wall. That wall was built by the "Incapacitados" ("The Incapable Ones")."

        When I handed Carlos my water bottle he tooks it graciously pouring a bit on the ground before he drinks it. He says "First for Pacamama (Mother Earth), then a bit for me.". Clearly the indigenous Peruvian way of life and thought lives on. Not in any written record, but in the blood of its people.

Pro-Indigenous graffiti in downtown Cusco.

        Upon leaving Sacsayhuaman and parting with Carlos I happened upon something equally Peruvian, but clearly of a different nature. As I descended from Sacsayhuaman I landed in the middle of a Peruvian parade.

        Complete with a full brass section, a large wooden effigy of the Patron Saint of San Blas, and fireworks I quickly found myself surrounded by a joyous mass of Peruvians celebrating an annual religious festival. The contrast between the clear annoyance that Carlos felt towards the influence of the Spaniards and the religious, or at least jovial, fervor of the parading Peruvians effectively highlights the complexity of the relationship between the modern "Catholic state of Peru" and the culture and ideals of its indigenous population.

        However, both were enjoyable experiences and both were fascinating glimpses into the mentality and cultural backdrop of this beautiful and surreal city I find myself in. In the silence the city seems to whisper "Welcome to Cusco Ben, you have much to learn."